Mansel Scheffel

🛠️ Hire me to implement AI in your business: https://markszymanski.co/work-with-me🎓 Join my community and learn how to leverage AI: https://ModernBuildersSociety.com💡 Book a 1:1 advisory call with me: https://markszymanski.co/advisory  🎙️ About this episode with Mansel ScheffelMansel Scheffel is an independent AI builder and consultant (AtomicOps) breaking down what actually works in production with Claude Code, agentic workflows, and AI automation. He went from a hungover 22 year old pianist in South Africa to a solo consultant landing some of the largest banks and governments in the world, all without a degree and without ever hiring full time staff. In this conversation we trace that whole path (the leap to London, learning Splunk by getting thrown to the wolves, and the intermediary layer playbook he used to reach clients a solo operator should never have been able to reach) and then bring it into the present, where he runs his AI consulting business AtomicOps alongside a fast growing YouTube channel and community. We get into the no hype, no doom view of AI that we both share, the Anthropic billing change that just broke a lot of the elaborate AIOS builds people sell on YouTube, why he builds constraints first, and how he thinks about vibe coding, security, and what a software engineer is actually worth in a world where the model writes the code. If you are a builder or a solo consultant trying to figure out what actually ships, this one is for you.  🔗 Connect with Mansel ScheffelAI Transformation Academy (Skool community): https://www.skool.com/ainativeLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mansel-scheffel/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mansel.scheffel  🔗 Connect with Mark SzymanskiWebsite: https://markszymanski.coFacebook: https://mjs.link/FBInstagram: https://mjs.link/IGLinkedIn: https://mjs.link/LIX: https://mjs.link/XYouTube: https://mjs.link/YT  🎧 About this showFueled By Progress is a long-form conversation series with builders, operators, and thinkers exploring business, technology, and what it actually takes to build a meaningful life in a modern world.  If you're new here, welcome. If you've been here since episodes recorded in my car, thank you. We're still just getting warmed up 💪   🆓 Free Value - Get your AI Resource Bundle: https://markszymanski.co/ai-crash-course-resources - Full AI Crash Course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1cd_ntgOuY - Claude Code Beginner's Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0nJ_8_77Yg - Follow my thinking between videos: https://mjs.link/Newsletter   ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Intro 04:00 What Mansel does now (banks, cybersecurity, AI, solo) 07:54 South Africa to London at 22 10:25 Splunk, the first big bank, going solo 14:14 The worst risk is not taking the risk 17:59 The first solo year and land and expand 20:00 The intermediary layer playbook 22:48 Big clients vs small, and why he started a community 33:38 Starting YouTube and content as lead gen 46:48 No hype, no doom, and who is actually watching 50:01 The Anthropic billing change and constraints first 59:41 The community and the live workshop playbook 1:07:24 Syntax vs orchestration and vibe coding 1:14:38 Making AI builds secure, and the future software engineer 1:25:23 The AI skeptic at the family table   📃 Ethics Statement: https://markszymanski.co/policies/ethics-statement/